Danger Of Darkness
by ForeverSiriusBlack
Summary: Good girls don't win. Annie Potter knows this and makes a choice at just 5 years old. Raised with nothing but sneers and neglect she vows to become the baddest girl there is. Jaded and apathetic to the world in general she meets a boy just as bad as her. With a dark lord offering her everything she's ever wanted, will Annie succumb to the darkness that is Tom Riddle? fem/harry
1. Chapter 1 Awakening

**Danger of Darkness**

Chapter One: Awakening

Annie Potter was firmly of the opinion that good girls never won. She had been of this opinion since her fifth birthday, when, having been old enough to recognise what a birthday was and when her birthday was, she had come to the revelation that her relatives couldn't care less. Of course she had been of this opinion before that, but it was that day that had truly driven it home. She had been on her best behaviour all week, never rising to Dudley's taunts or her aunts derision, all in the hope that she might get a birthday present like she'd heard all the other girls at school talking about, like she had seen Dudley get every year, but her hopes had been squashed as always by her family who had ignored the day as though there were nothing at all special about it. Even worse, when she had finally plucked up the courage to ask if maybe she could watch television since it was her birthday, her aunt had given her a look of utter disdain and spat 'freaks don't deserve birthday's' before promptly slapping her across the face and shoving her into the cupboard under the stairs. She had watched as they showered attention and gifts on her cousin, watched as her cousin grew into a spoiled, nasty child and known that no matter how hard she tried they would never look at her the way they looked at him. And that was when she realised, good girls don't win. It was this day that she swore she would never again be a good girl, if they would hurt her then she would hurt them right back. She knew they were older, and stronger, but she had one weapon they didn't have. She had her mind and she would damn well use it, and they would regret ever having hurt her, by the time she was done with them they would regret ever having set eyes on her, and she would enjoy every last minute of it.

She had been seven before she had managed it. She had taken the slaps and the cupboard. The lack of food and the derision. She had taken all of it with a sweet smile that promised nothing But pain, all the while knowing that one day she would have her revenge.

The strange occurrences had begun to happen with increased regularity and were always followed up with prolonged exposure to the darkness that was the cupboard under the stairs along with a lack of food that would leave her looking far thinner than could ever be considered healthy. However she looked forward to each occurrence with an increasing amount of glee due to the delicious emotion exhibited by the Dursley's every time such events occurred. Fear. Pure and unadulterated fear. Oh they hid it well, there was no doubt about that. They would sneer and deride her but their eyes always gave them away. They were afraid of her. She knew what they were trying to do, too. It was a crude form of conditioning. Treat the incidents with a punishment, and therefore a negative response which would reduce the frequency of the occurrences out of fear of repercussions. What the Dursley's failed to notice however, was that she knew they were afraid of her and she relished in it, therefore eliciting a positive response and increasing the occurrence of such happenings. Yes, Annie was very much happy with the current state of affairs. However it occurred to her that if she could control such occurrences then she could control the Dursley's fear and they would never be able to control _her _again. And that was the ultimate goal. Freedom from the filth she was forced to call family.

So she had practised. Well... perhaps practised was the wrong word. In truth she had stared at a stick for well over an hour and tried to make it float. She had been in the park at the time, alone as always and praying Dudley's gang didn't find her. She really didn't feel like outrunning the idiots today. But after an hour of staring and no movement she was beginning to feel rather frustrated and ended up throwing the stick at a wall, only to have it halt in mid-air half way there. It would seem Harry thought, that frustration made it easier. Thinking back, Annie realised that the incidents only occurred when when she was feeling some powerful emotion, usually anger or fear. So, she thought with a smile, emotion is the key.

From that point on the process went much faster. By focusing on a powerful emotion, usually thinking about the Dursley's and the anger they brought out in her she had managed to get a reaction. Unfortunately she had made the stick explode, but that was besides the point, it had worked! Following that incident she had decided to focus on the feeling that had occurred in her when the stick exploded. She hadn't noticed at first, distracted by her euphoria that it had worked, but after several incidences of exploding sticks, she had begun to notice a pattern. And so instead of focusing on anger she decided to focus on the curious feeling of warmth that originated somewhere around her abdomen every time she caused the sticks to explode.

Several weeks of practice later and not only could she levitate the stick she could control it however she wished. It had required intense focus and concentration, and also left her feeling drained afterwards. Not to mention she had also had to read a good dozen books on meditation in order to control her mind and focus better but after weeks of practice she could use it almost effortlessly and had decided to put her practice to good use. She had decided she wanted Dudley's second bedroom and if the Dursley's were not willing to give it to her willingly then she would have to make them. Simple as that. After all they could hardly refuse if she started levitating them now could they. And if worse came to worse, she had a plan to hurt them enough that they would be forced to say yes. She didn't really want to hurt them just yet. Not because she liked them or felt any kind of moral compunctions about doing so because she honestly didn't, but because she didn't want them to realise what she was capable of just yet. If they knew what she was capable of then they could take countermeasures, and that would simply ruin all her fun. Not that she thought they were capable of stopping her, but it was better to be prepared after all. Or following her own personal philosophy, if you expect the worst then you're never disappointed.

She had waited until Saturday when all the Dursley's would be at home to enact her plan. They were in the living room watching TV when Annie walked in and calmly sat on an armchair. She coughed delicately to get their attention and spoke in a clear and commanding tone that captured their attention at once. 'Aunt, uncle, I wish to speak with you in regards to my current living conditions.' She internally rolled her eyes at their slightly gaping expressions. Honestly if they actually listened to her once in a while it would be perfectly obvious that she refused to sound like an inarticulate idiot. She watched in amusement as her uncles face turned slightly purple as her meaning dawned on him, and he began to rant 'What about your living conditions you ungrateful brat? We feed you, we clothe you, out of the goodness of our hearts what have you possibly got to complain about, eh? Should have left you at an orphanage when we found you you ungrateful freak.'

'Enough!' she cut her uncles voice off mid rant. 'I am kept in a cupboard and barely fed. This constitutes as abuse. If I told a teacher or a social worker you'd be arrested. Now you're going to give me Dudley's second bedroom or I'm going to hurt you. Your choice.' Her voice was perfectly serene and there was even a smile on her face though there was nothing kind about it, it was cruel and promised pain to all those stupid enough to cross her. Clearly her uncle lacked the intelligence to properly understand the threat as his face slowly became purple and he stood up, looming over her, clearly intending to use his height and weight to intimidate her. Annie merely raised an eyebrow in question. When he raised a hand to strike her though she lost her patience and used her magic to propel her uncle backwards into a wall. 'Would you like to try that again uncle, because I assure you it wouldn't be wise.' She watched filled with glee as her uncles eyes began to fill with fear as he slowly began to realise that she wasn't the little girl he had beaten and abused any longer. Her eyes filled with malevolence as she stood up and advanced on her uncle. 'now, about that room...'

In the end it had taken breaking Dudley's arm in 3 separate places for it to finally penetrate her uncles mind that they weren't the ones in charge any more. It had been around 20 minutes into what she preferred to call 'aggressive negotiations' when she realised that if the harm she was inflicting on her uncles person wasn't satisfactory to drive her point home them she would start harming Petunia, when seeing his wife's body sail through the room and into a wall still hadn't been enough she had broken her cousins arm in 3 places. His screams had been extremely satisfying. It had been fun in a strange way to watch her cousin beg at her feet when for so long it had been her lying at his. Not that she had ever lowered herself to begging. She refused to give anyone that satisfaction. Refused to scream. Refused to beg. She would stand tall and proud with a haughty sneer on her face as if they were all so beneath her, secure in the knowledge that they would never break her. She would die before she was broken. Purely because she refused to be weak. She had the power to make the world burn and she would make sure that they knew it. And by god would they know it.

AN:

So this was an idea I had a while ago, if you want to know more about Annie and think I should continue the story, just drop me a review. I'm open to ideas and suggestions as well as constructive criticism. For readers of my other story, its not abandoned, I just haven't had chance to work on it lately, with school and exams. But I will be updating it by the end of the holidays before I go back to college. Merry Christmas.

ForeverSiriusBlack

Disclaimer:

None of this belongs to me, all rights go to J.K. Rowling


	2. Chapter 2 The Letter

**Danger of Darkness**

Chapter 2 - The letter

Annie discovered many things following this event. She had discovered that she could manipulate the elements, when she had got extremely angry at her uncle. It had been the night after the Dudley incident. She had gone to sleep in her newly acquired room only to wake to a sharp pain in her back. Her uncle had taken a belt to her. He had actually drawn blood and her back felt like it was on fire. She had been so furious her uncle had flown across the room, buffeted by strong winds that shook every item in the room and made the windows rattle. Fire had begun to lick its way up her arms and there was rain splattering the walls despite the windows being shut. Her uncle had launched himself at her but the fire had protected her leaving severe third degree burns on his back, despite leaving her skin untouched, and continuing to lick its way up her arms. Her aunt had burst into the room to identify the source of her husbands screams only to see Annie standing over him looking like an avenging angel. Her aunt had screamed and passed out from fright as Annie ran out of the house in a cold rage. She hadn't understood what had happened only known that if she didn't get out of that house she would bring it down on top of them. So she had ran. Her uncle had been in the hospital for 3 weeks and when he came home he had never dared touch her again. He was afraid to even meet her eyes. The scars on his back serving as a reminder everyday of what happened when you faced Annie's wrath.

Annie didn't feel guilty about what had happened but she was afraid. Annie prided herself on being in control and in that instance she had lost it completely. She had practiced and focused her new powers religiously since then. Her powers gave her so much control over her family it was addictive. It gave her a heady feeling, one that Annie supposed could be compared to feeling high. It was dark and seductive and Annie loved it. She left the house in the dead of night and walked to the small wood around a mile from privet drive, there she would practice her gifts and get lost in the heady feeling of power that would light her very body on fire, leaving a clenching in her gut. Annie wasn't quite sure what the feeling was but she enjoyed it immensely. However unlike that first time she never again let herself get lost to the feeling of power, fearing just what she would be capable of if she lost herself in that feeling.

Annie knew she wasn't normal, knew it wasn't right to enjoy others screams of pain. Annie suspected she was a sociopath, as she lacked any kind of conscience and severely lacked social skills. She preferred her own company to anyone else's and didn't particularly care who she hurt or manipulated into getting what she wanted. She was fairly sure she knew the difference between right and wrong, however she was definitely sure she didn't care. She had read in a psychology book that a sociopath felt a lack of social responsibility and their behaviour was often amoral or even criminal. Apparently the difference between a sociopath and a psychopath was a psychopath's inability to form meaningful personal relationships and their inability to love, and while Annie was quite sure she didn't have any meaningful personal relationships she also didn't think she was incapable of forming them, just that she had yet to meet anyone that she wanted to form them with.

In the weeks following the incident the Dursleys had been sufficiently cowed as to stop their borderline abusive behaviour. In fact Annie was firmly of the opinion that terrifying her relatives into submission had been the best thing she had ever done, despite the fact that her strange powers had almost gotten away from her. They no longer forced her to do an unreasonable number of chores or cook everyones meals, in fact they no longer forced her to do anything at all, they seemed content to ignore her very existence other than to throw her the occasional terrified look. She had also managed to bully her aunt into taking her shopping for appropriately fitting clothes so that she now looked like a proper little girl and no longer had to wear her cousins oversized castoffs. It was, in Annie's opinion a much improved state of affairs. She had decided to ask her aunt to sign her up for extra activities, such as dance, gymnastics, swimming and karate, in the hope that perhaps she could attempt to form some of those 'meaningful personal relationships' that her psychology books seemed to be obsessed with. She had even taken violin lessons from an old lady a few streets away. Unfortunately she had yet to find anyone she considered worthy of being her friend but she was still looking and had found some vaguely useful allies that would do in the meantime. There had to be a reasonably intelligent person she could have discussions with somewhere after all. And she had decided she didn't want to be a psychopath as it would interfere with too many of her plans for the future. So she continued with her endeavour to find a worthy friend.

She also ensured that her relatives stayed in line. She made sure they fed her an appropriate amount of food, and regularly bought her new clothes. But her new love was books. Annie was determined to get out of her relatives house as soon as she could, but knew that in order to do that she needed as many qualifications as she could get. She read as many books as she could and had already been moved up 2 years in school. Despite only being 10 she was in year 8 at Stonewall High and would begin GCSE prep in September. Her relatives had been furious that she had been moved up when their precious Dudley hadn't but they hadn't been able to say anything in fear of what Annie would do. They had been even more furious when she had told them she would be sitting her maths, French and latin GCSE's this summer. Her aunt had ranted that she was unnatural just like her mother, but one look in Annie's cold green eyes had her backtracking fast and she had ran from the room.

It wasn't until she left for the library in Little Whinging that she finally got some peace. The exam prep for her Latin exam was brutal but she was determined. She had been revising for weeks in preparation and was determined to get nothing less than a perfect score. She needed these exams to get away from her so called family, and once she did that she would finally be free. Her peace however was not to last as a voice interrupted her. ''You busy, Ann?''

She looked up to meet the bright blue eyes of Thomas Brown ''Just a few pages left then I'm gonna get some air, but I suppose I could finish early if you make it worth my while.'' Tom just grinned and inclined his head so she packed up her books and followed him out. Thomas had once been one of the biggest bullies in Stonewall. His father was a doctor in London and his mother had died when he was a baby. The lack of any kind of parental guidance and a never ending bank balance courtesy of his dad meant the boy had been an angry, selfish thug with a sense of entitlement the size of a small planet. When she had first arrived at Stonewall she had been a tiny eight year old, and the very definition of a soft target. However growing up with an aunt and uncle who liked to take swipes at her head and a cousin who would beat her bloody if he caught her, had left her agile and given her wicked fast reflexes. Not to mention the karate lessons she took three times a week. As a result she may have been small but she was fast and strong and fought like a tiger. She'd left nearly as many bruises on them as they had left on her. Thomas had watched his gang getting roughed up by an eight year old and simply smirked before calling them off. He'd walked over to her and watched as she simply raised an eyebrow in question. He had stuck out his hand for her to shake and once she had done so he'd said ''Welcome to Stonewall''. They had been allies ever since. Thomas kept people off her back and she provided them with an alibi mostly to teachers but occasionally to the police as well. After all everyone else just saw a pretty little girl, so clever and innocent that she wouldn't dream of lying, they'd often laugh about it later. They weren't exactly friends but they got on well enough. Annie personally was beginning to think she was far too jaded to ever make friends but she continued to try regardless. She had yet to fail at anything and wasn't about to start now.

Thomas she reflected, was a lot like her. Neglected at home he had become angry and took it out on the nearest target, usually the first years at Stonewall, whereas she used her relatives as an outlet. She saw no problem with this though. After all her relatives had used her as an outlet for their anger for years. And as for the first years, she was firmly of the mindset that what didn't kill you made you stronger, and if it did kill you then it was your own fault in the first place for being weak and she was doing society a favour by weeding out the weak early on.

She saw Thomas watching her out of the corner of her eye, he was much taller than her with broad shoulders and blonde hair. She supposed he was quite handsome by societies standards. He was also 15 and hormonal which had made him quite annoying as of late, as he spent more time staring at girls chests than doing any actual work. Hence why the teachers had asked her to tutor him in maths in order to avoid him failing. She thought it was quite amusing that teachers thought she could do what they had been failing to do for years. After all it was blatantly obvious to anyone with half a brain that Thomas wasn't the academic sort, he wanted to be a mechanic, and Annie privately thought he'd be quite good since he seemed to know everything there was to know about cars; but it wasn't a career his father would approve of so he had put pressure on the teachers to improve Thomas' grades. Not that she actually bothered teaching him. If he wanted to improve his grades he knew where to find her but until then Annie wasn't going to waste her time with something she was quite sure was a lost cause anyway.

''So Annie, you know you're gonna kill yourself with all this revision don't you, I mean you've been at it for weeks, what's the point in working so hard anyway, you're only ten. And you can always resit later. Life's for living not slaving away over books in a library.''

Annie gave him an unimpressed look ''If I don't get away from my family soon I won't be living much longer, or at least not freely since I'll have been arrested for murder. I don't fancy ending up in a juvenile detention centre, thanks.''

Thomas snorted, ''You could lie you're way out of anything you could. Its the face, no one ever expects someone so innocent looking to be a bad person, people see what they wanna see. I'd bet all my dads money you could just pin it on that cousin of yours. Right little thug he his. Chances are the entire neighbourhood would back you up.''

''Yeah probably, but I'd rather not chance it. You still selling your dads prescriptions?''

''Yeah, the idiot didn't even notice them missing. Got a couple a thousand quid now, reckon its enough to get a place. I've been looking at apprenticeships up in London, soon as schools finished I'm out of here.''

''Sounds like a plan I suppose.'' I leaned on the gate as we passed my house. ''You going to tell your dad you're going?''

''Nah, he probably won't even notice I'm gone, he's too busy with his precious job. Listen I need an alibi for tonight, reckon you can sort it?''

''What's in it for me?''

He pulled a wallet out of his pocket and handed her £50. ''Don't spend it all at once, eh?''

Annie snorted as she turned around. ''Whatever'' she called over her shoulder. It amused her that he actually thought she spent the money, she never did. She kept it safe in her room knowing that she would need it one day when she finally escaped her relatives. After all flats and university cost money and it wasn't like she could get a job, she was 10. The odd job she did for Thomas brought in much more money than a legitimate job would anyway.

The following day it was Dudley's birthday and Annie woke up in a foul mood. Her relatives would spend all day fawning over Dudley as if he were the best thing since sliced bread. The entire display was always downright nauseating. She shook her head and made her way to her wardrobe, she would have to make her own breakfast later, no way was she watching Dudley tear into a mound of presents and complain that they weren't good enough despite the fact that her aunt and uncle had probably spent well into the thousands on the stupid things. Chances were they would be broke by next week any way so she really didn't know why they bothered in the first place.

As she headed downstairs she vaguely wondered where the Dursleys would be taking Dudley as his special birthday treat. They had left her with Mrs Figg when she was younger but after taking control of her powers she had made it quite clear that she could take care of herself and wouldn't stay with that ridiculous woman. She pried into their business far too much for Annie to be comfortable being alone in her company. As she saw her aunt comforting Dudley over the fact that there were two less presents than last year she rolled her eyes and pulled out the cereal. The table was groaning under the weight of the presents and Dudleys breakfast combined. As she used her powers to lift the presents of the table and dump them on the floor she said absently ''I could always incinerate them for you if they're not good enough cousin. I'm sure they'd serve much more use as a pile of ashes than they would dumped on the floor in your room.''

Dudley paled and shook his head.

''Then perhaps you ought to shut up. Where are you going today?'' She asked her aunt who seemed torn between relief that a tantrum had been averted and fear over Annie's presence in the room.

''The zoo'' she spoke quickly in her usual brisk tone, though there was a slight waver to it, probably the mention of fire, Annie thought absently.

''London zoo?'' Seeing her aunts nod she said ''I'll come to, I've not seen London's zoo before.'' She smirked as she saw her aunt's face pinch, she knew the woman was dying to argue with her ''Problem?'' She smirked wider at her aunts whispered no, before starting to eat her cereal.

The drive to the zoo was uneventful, and Annie had abandoned her relatives as soon as they had payed her admission. She was currently wandering around the reptile house. She rather liked snakes, she'd never seen a live one before only pictures, but she rather thought of herself as a snake, they were survivor's, dangerous and deadly, they were in her opinion perfect predators, waiting for just the right moment to strike and when they did, they did so with deadly force. She leaned against the wall watching as her cousin bashed on the window of the tank of a boa constrictor. She absently wondered how someone like her could possibly be related to someone like him.

''Leave it alone Dudley, why would it want to look at your ugly face.'' Her cousin paled rapidly at hearing her voice and fled.

''Idiot, I should feed him to the bloody snake'', she muttered absently looking at the information detailing the snakes habits, she looked up and saw the snake was watching her.

''I don't suppose you eat Dudley's do you?''

The snake blinked and then hissed _:I wouldn't mind if you could get me out of this cage.: _Annies mouth fell open and her eyes opened wide, that did not just happen, Annie thought

_:Did you just talk?:_ she asked, absently wondering if she had lost her mind, she was after all talking to a snake!

The snake slithered closer to the glass _:What were you expecting little speaker?:_

_:Speaker, why do you call me that, and do you usually talk to people?:_

The snake gave her what she supposed was an amused look before answering _:I call you speaker because you are speaking in the snake tongue and you are the first human I have spoken too.: _

Annie rubbed her temples with her fingers before looking around the room, checking for security camera's. Whilst she didn't particularly care if she broke the law she would rather avoid getting arrested. Seeing that the place was empty and absently wondering at their awful lack of security she focused her powers on herself and wished herself unseen. She wasn't sure how it worked but with practice she had managed to turn herself into a walking cameleon. It was helpful for when she avoided her family, plus the odd jobs she did for Thomas. In all honesty she didn't particularly like Thomas, he wasn't like her and would probably be just as terrified as her relatives if he knew what she was capable of, but he was useful, as he didn't pry and paid well for the jobs she did. He was one of her more bearable allies and much easier to deal with than his moronic friends. As she watched her skin take on the colour of her surroundings she knew it was working. She then worked on pushing her hand straight through the glass. It was exhausting but the best idea she could come up with on the spot. _:Slide onto my hand and I'll get you out of here.: _She whispered keeping her eyes on the snake. She couldn't actually believe she had put her hand in the same cage as a deadly snake but waited silently as the snake crawled up her arm which she then slowly began to pull out the glass. As her hand came free and the snake wrapped itself around her, she swayed on her feet. That had definitely exhausted her, but she maintained her chameleon disguise and walked slowly out of the building. She would have to stick to the shadows to avoid being seen as the disguise would waver in sunlight. She made her way back to the Dursleys car and unlocked it with a wave of her hand. She claimed into the front seat and HotWired the car so that she could turn the heat on, before lowering the snake onto the back seat. _:We can talk here without fear of being heard by other people. Now about this speaker business, I was under the impression I was speaking in English but given the snake tongue comment I'm guessing that's not actually the case?:_

_:No little speaker, though how a two legged human like yourself managed to learn parseltongue I do not know. I have heard of others with strange powers like yours before but never have I heard of others with the ability to speak with snakes.:_

_:Wait, you've met people like me before?: _Annie felt the urge to jump up and down in excitement. If there were others like her then maybe she didn't have to be alone anymore. Stuck around stupid people without a hope in hells chance of understanding her. She might finally find an equal, someone worthy of being her friend. She was about ready to give up on the entire human race at this point.

But the snake shook its head, _:No little speaker, but my nest mother was a wild snake from the forests of Brazil and she told me of the strange stick wielding humans that would use us as potion ingredients if we were to stray too far from the nest.:_

Annie raised a sceptical eyebrow, _:Stick wielding, really?:_

The snake made an odd sort of hissing sound that she guessed was the snake version of a snort, and gave Annie a look that clearly portrayed she understood that about as well as Annie did. _:I have often thought of humans as strange creatures.: _She said wryly.

At that Annie actually snorted. _:Yeah tell me about it. So what do say to coming home with me, I could use an intelligent person to converse with and I promise not to keep you in a cage.: _The snake she decided was the closest thing to a good conversationalist she'd ever met and had the added bonus of being a deadly snake, so probably wouldn't be too opposed to seeing her hurt her ridiculous excuse for a family. Yes, Annie thought, this snake had excellent potential as a friend.

The snake gave her an assessing look before agreeing with a nod of her head. _:I suppose you are an acceptable companion and this climate is too cold for me to survive in anyway.: _Annie smiled wryly, briefly wondering how much pain she'd have to cause her relatives before the acquiesced to housing a large deadly snake. Well, she thought, smirking with dark amusement, it was sure to be an interesting afternoon.

One interesting car journey later, in which Annie proceeded to terrify her uncle out of a least 10 years of his life, Annie took the snake to the kitchen, intent on finding something for it to eat. She would have to read up on what exactly the snake would hunt in its natural environment later. One cold chicken later she was listening to the snake explain what happened when it killed someone by squeezing them to death and absently thought that this was far more interesting than anything they learnt at school. Yes, she decided this snake had excellent potential as a friend.

It wasn't until the next day that the most interesting thing happened however. A small letter made from heavy parchment with small letters in bright emerald green ink, addressed to...

Miss A. Potter

The Smallest Bedroom

Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

AN: I have decided to put my other story on hiatus for now and focus solely on this one. I'm going to try and publish a chapter every two weeks, but I'm currently doing a levels so they might take longer sometimes. Exams are stressful. Please review and let me know what you think and thank you to all the people that have already reviewed my previous chapter.

Completed 8/1/15

Words 3983


	3. Chapter 3 Alley Surprise's

Danger of Darkness

Chapter 3 - Alley Surprises

Annie didn't think that she had ever been this angry in her life. She watched in twisted amusement as her aunt writhed on the floor screaming in pain as she used her powers to boil her aunts blood. How dare they! They had known all along known exactly what she was! She had asked them and they had lied! They DARED! Oh they would pay for this. She had thought the letter a joke at first, but then she had seen her aunt's face as she came to collect the mail. The blood had drained from her face and Annie had idly wondered if her aunt might faint. But that thought had quickly evaporated and been replaced by blind rage at the realisation that the whole time she had been desperately searched for answers, read every book she could get her hands on that might help to explain what she was, they had known. They had deliberately lied to her, and that had sealed their fate. She had always controlled her powers, been careful to keep her relatives alive, but now she no longer cared. They had kept her heritage from her, left her to believe in the dark recesses of her mind that maybe they were right and that she was just a freak of nature, and for that they would pay. She had just enough clarity of mind not to kill them right there and then, she couldn't allow them to pin the blame on her. But she tortured her aunt. Made her give up every scrap of knowledge she had on the magical world, and left her lying on the kitchen floor. This needed further thinking about and she couldn't do that if she was consumed by rage.

Annie had left the house soon after that, stopping only long enough to get dressed and collect her secret stash of money. She had collected well over a thousand pounds in the past two years doing the odd job for Thomas and some of her other allies and thought that would be more than enough to collect the school supplies the letter said she would need. Of course she would need other things to explain this new world but the school things would do for now. The only problem was that she was apparently famous in this world. From what she had gotten from her aunt her scar was some kind of symbol and people would recognise her with it, so she'd had to use her aunt's makeup to cover it. Now all she had to do was find the pub her aunt had spoken about.

Taking in her surroundings Annie realised she stuck out like a sore thumb. Her clothes which her aunt had said were called muggle were nothing like what others around her were wearing. She headed toward the barman, keeping her back straight and her stance proud. Despite her nervousness about her surroundings she couldn't show it. Appearance was everything, and she wouldn't appear weak. She took in her surroundings as she waited for the barman to turn around. The place was dark and dilapidated, but she could feel a thrum of power underneath the dirt. The place felt warm and welcoming, Annie imagined it was what coming home felt like and a small smile graced her features. No one was paying her any attention despite her muggle clothes, her stance screaming confidence; so long as she looked like she belonged they would have no reason to think she didn't. Confidence was the key.

As the barman turned to look at her Annie dropped her eyes and put on her little girl facade, the same one she wore whenever she lied to a police officer. ''Excuse me sir, but my guardians are muggles and don't really like all this magic business, could you please tell me how to get into Diagon Alley.'' Annie let her voice waver slightly and her eyes watered. The man practically melted in front of her and she inwardly sneered, people were so easy to manipulate, magical or muggle.

'' Of course I will. You have to go through the back and tap the bricks on the wall. I'll show you how since it's your first time here. Did your parents send you with muggle money?"

Annie didn't bother correcting him and simply nodded her head meekly. The man smiled and took her hand. He led her out the back door and to a small yard. They were facing a large brick wall and Annie guessed this was the wall the man had talking about. He led her over and tapped the wall with his wand causing the bricks to form a large archway. Only years of controlling her expressions kept from gaping, but she couldn't completely control the awe on her face. The man smiled at her and pointed at a large white building in the distance. "See that building there, that's Gringotts, the wizarding bank. You'll have to get your money changed to galleons there and then you'll be able to buy your school things. When you get your wand you'll be able to open the archway by yourself. My names Tom by the way."

Annie said her thanks and walked toward the bank, being careful not to stare, no matter how much she wanted too. If she had grown up in this world this sight would be normal so staring would only make her stick out. She took careful note of what people were wearing, taking in the fashions and designs, and deciding that a clothes store would be her first stop after the bank. She also knew she would have to find out where they kept wills in this world as well. In the muggle world they were traditionally kept in a bank vault or with a solicitor. Since the magical community had been at war during the time of her parent's death they would have had to have been idiots not to have had one, so hopefully she would be able to find it. She somehow doubted that a mother who had apparently died for her would leave her in the care of a sister that she knew despised her very existence, which meant the guardian's she was supposed to have we're dead or someone had ignored the will. Given that they had been in the middle of a war she wouldn't be surprised by either.

Approaching the bank she saw the oddest looking creatures guarding the doors, they resembled the pictures of goblins she had seen in the learning to read books she had been given at school, minus the green colour. She bowed her head in respect, not wanting to offend the wrong person just yet. They seemed surprised but after a moment, bowed back. Annie smiled as she entered the bank before she noticed a sign:

Enter stranger but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed

For those who take but do not earn

Must pay most dearly in their turn

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours

Thief you have been warned beware

Of finding more than treasure there

Annie grinned. These were her kind of people. It wasn't a warning, it was a challenge. They had so much faith in their security they dared people to try and break it. Annie wanted to laugh. No security had ever stopped her, but then again, this was a magical bank so they presumably had a magical security system. She'd have to look into that later. As she walked through the double doors she was met with an incredible sight, a vast gilded hall milling with people and goblins coming to and fro, there were sparkling crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and two horizontal rows of desks running across the length of the room. The tellers all looked to be goblins, so apparently they ran the bank. She walked up to the nearest teller, and waited for him to acknowledge her.

"Yes?" Annie's lips twitched at the rude tone. Apparently the goblin had as much patience as her.

"I was told to exchange muggle money to wizarding money here and as my parents were magical I was wondering if perhaps they had a will stored here?" Her tone was polite but the steel behind it was clear and she looked the goblin directly in the eye, refusing to be intimidated despite the dark glare she was receiving.

"Name?"

Annie sighed in irritation; she truly hated her name sometimes. "Anastasia Lilith Dorea Elizabeth Potter"

The goblins eyes widened in surprise and flicked upwards to her forehead, looking for the scar. Annie wanted to groan. It appeared she really was famous. This wasn't good at all. Annie worked best in obscurity; she could hardly do that if people recognised her everywhere she went. The goblin interrupted her train of thought "Do you wish to see your account manager, Miss Potter?"

Assuming this meant her parents had a vault here, and had bequeathed it to her, she nodded politely and followed the goblin as he walked toward one of the doors on the far wall. He knocked and entered with her following behind. "This is Griphook, Miss Potter, the Potter account manager. Miss Potter wishes to discuss her parents will." The other goblin nodded and she took a seat as the teller left the room.

"Well Miss Potter, what is it you wish to know?"

"I would first like to see my parents will, and then, as I assume that you need an account to have an account manager I would like to see all the details regarding all holdings my family have at this bank.''

"Miss Potter, as I assume you are aware you are something of an icon, therefore I am sure you are aware that I must ask for proof of identity."

"I would quite frankly be rather concerned if you did not, and I admit it is relieving to find you take security seriously. What method of proof do you require?"

The goblin gave a feral grin and placed a piece of paper on the desk along with a silver dagger. "Place three drops of your blood on the paper which will show us your true name."

Annie looked at the dagger and then the goblin. There was nothing in his expression that indicated he wasn't serious so she decided to just go with it. She sliced a small cut in her thumb, before letting exactly three drops of blood fall onto the paper. The cut healed instantly and she placed the dagger back onto the desk, before leaning back in her chair and assessing the goblin. He had picked up the paper and was carefully reading it. She let her gaze roam the office, the walls were made of marble and the floor was tiled with cool, black stone. The desk was made of what looked like an expensive cherry wood and the whole room screamed wealth. The goblin was clearly a shrewd being. Her hadn't believed her identity and had made her prove it; he had also been carefully polite so as not to offend her, obviously in case she was actually his client. His words also had a faint undertone of mocking to them, as if he knew something she didn't. The teller had had the same tone and she remembered the sneers on the other goblins faces as they served their human clients. There was obviously a history there, and she made a note to look into it later.

Griphook looked up from the piece of paper and handed it to her. "It would seem you are who you say you are Miss Potter."

She looked at the paper and felt her eyebrows rise:

Name:

Anastasia Lilith Dorea Elizabeth Potter

Mother:

Lily Elizabeth Potter nee Evans - Deceased

Father:

James Charlus Potter - Deceased

Godmother:

Alice Mary Longbottom nee Prewitt - Incapacitated

Godfather:

Sirius Orion Black - Imprisoned

Legitimised by Sirius Orion Black

Date of birth:

31/07/1980

Heir to:

Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter

Noble and Most Ancient House of Black

Annie looked at the goblin. She knew she was clueless and had a feeling the goblin knew it too. If she was going to get anywhere she had to swallow her pride. "Alright, I'm going to be frank. Whilst I've being doing magic since I was about four years old, I had no idea what it was until this morning when my letter arrived. Now as I'm sure you've already guessed I don't know anything about this noble house stuff, so would you be kind enough to give the basics and perhaps give me direction to where I might find books that go into more depth on the matter?"

The goblin sighed and pulled some papers from his desk. "There are 28 founding families which have the title Ancient and Noble house. Some of these 28 families are also found in the pure blood directory which means they can trace their ancestry through generations and there is no muggle blood in the family. Both the Black's and the Potters are in the directory, you are also in the directory despite your mother's muggleborn status because you were legitimised by your godfather who was a pureblood like your father. Your children however would only be in the pureblood directory if you married a pureblood. What this does is allow you to take up your two seats on the wizengamot and allow you to become head of your respective houses. Which means you will take familial responsibility over each member of your house. You can draw up marriage contracts, dissolve marriages etc. There are books on that. You also have control over your family vaults. You have a trust fund for school which your parents set up, but you will also have control over every other vault your family has set up as well as all assets and property."

Annie wanted to groan, she had only understood about half of that and it sounded like a hell of a lot of reading would be needed to understand properly, on top of the reading she already had to do to to understand this new world she now belonged to and according to the letter school started in a month. Wonderful. Pushing that aside for the moment she focused on the most pressing problem. "Can you give me a rundown of my current financial situation? I'll deal with the rest later."

The goblin nodded and handed over two thick folders. That's your bank statements for the past ten years as well as an overview of all the businesses your two houses have a stake in and any rent agreements, debts or loans your family have."

Annie thumbed through the folder looking for the most recent statement concerning her trust vault. "Can I take these with me?"

"Yes, anymore information you may need is likely to be in your family vault which you cannot enter until you take up your headship."

"How old do I have to be to do that?" Annie idly wondered if she would have to wait until she was 16. If no one had been looking after her family's estate since her parent's deaths she seriously dreaded to think of the mess it would be in right now. While she wanted to be a lawyer, she didn't think she had to the necessary information or knowledge to manage two separate estates. Especially ones that were likely to be in the state she thought hers were in. Not to mention school. She had already taken her GCSEs in certain subjects but there were still subjects she was taking and since this new school only offered magical subjects she'd probably have to self-study those subjects whilst simultaneously studying the magical subjects, and managing two estates! Who did they think she was exactly! She might be good but even she couldn't go without food and sleep indefinitely!

"There isn't an age restriction." The goblin said interrupting her minor meltdown. "In order to prevent the estate from falling into ministry control the age restriction was abolished about 40 years ago. It was not long after the Grindelwald war, so there were a lot of war orphans."

Annie actually did groan at that. The goblin shot her an amused look as if it knew exactly what she was thinking, and she only just managed to refrain from sticking her tongue out. Why did everything have to be so difficult? She took the bank statement for her trust fund and her mouth fell open. Her father had apparently made a lump deposit of 100,000 Galleon's and then arranged a yearly deposit of 10,000 Galleon's every year on her birthday. Given that she would be eleven next week that was 210,000 Galleon's. "What's the exchange rate?" Annie asked absently.

"Five pounds to a galeon."

Annie was about to ask what exactly her parents had thought she would need a million pounds for, when she noticed something else. The bottom line said there was only 50,000 Galleon's left in the vault. Looking again she noticed someone had been taking money out of her vault, different amounts fairly regularly over the last ten years. She looked at the goblin. "Who else has access to these accounts?"

The goblin raised an eyebrow. "The only one with access is you or anyone you have given your key to. But even with a key only your trust vault can be accessed by anyone who isn't you."

The temperature dropped as Annie slowly stood and placed the statement in front of the goblin. Ice was slowly spreading out across the floor from where she was standing and her eyes had started to glow. The goblin paled dramatically, as Annie said in a deadly soft voice, "Then why, exactly, has Albus Dumbledore removed three quarters of the contents of my trust vault?"

The goblin opened and closed his mouth but seemed unable to actually speak. Abject terror clear on his features. A cruel mocking smile graced her features. "You will find out, and I want every penny back. If you don't, I'm going to get very, very angry. And believe me, that is not something you want to see. Do I make myself clear?''

The goblin nodded hurriedly and managed to rasp out, "Crystal."

"So glad we understand each other. Now I want to see this trust vault, so that I can do my school shopping. Did my family own any property in London?"

The meeting concluded with the goblin informing her that she actually owned two properties in London, a flat in Intellectu Alley, which was apparently just down from Diagon Alley, and a town house in Islington, called Grimmauld Place, which was the one she ended up deciding she would stay in for now, because apparently it had a library filled with books, which would inform her on how to do her job as a head of house, and help with managing an estate.

The house also had a house elf which was apparently a type of magical creature that acted and a servant/butler/slave, so should technically be well looked after despite the fact that the last owner, Walburga Black, had been dead since 1985. Two hellish cart rides later, and she had enough money to go on a shopping spree. The goblin had also made it extremely clear to her that goblins did not tolerate theft and that her vault would be reimbursed as soon as possible. What Annie really wanted to know was how the hell he had gotten her key. Apparently because her guardians were muggles, she had an additional, magical guardian, who had responsibility for her within the magical world. However Dumbledore had no right to have that responsibility, so hiring a solicitor was next on her list. Once she had a solicitor to inform her of her legal situation, she would determine the best way to get rid of the man.

Entering the first clothes store she found, a Madam Malkin's, she allowed her eyes to trail over the room. It was bigger than it looked like from the outside and quite well lit. There were circular stands displaying cloaks in different colours and fabrics and a purple curtain leading to what she suspected was a back room. A woman in purple robes came toward her. "Hogwarts dear?"

"Not exactly ma'am, I'm actually looking for some everyday clothes, in the finest materials you carry, if that's not too much trouble please?"

The woman smiled kindly, easily taken in by the act of a polite little girl. It was easy to manipulate people like this, but she lamented that she wouldn't be able to do it much longer. She had always been tall and having hit puberty recently she looked more like twelve or thirteen than she did ten. Still it was better this way. No one would take a child seriously, so the quicker she grew up the better.

The woman began to tailor her for clothes, apparently because the magical community was so small they made clothes to order instead of making them in bulk as muggles did. She purchased twelve shirts of various colours with 6 skirts, two long cloaks, one in deep green and one in black as well as 3 long dresses and 8 sets of robes, in light and dark blues, a dark green and a pale grey. She then told the woman that she may as well make up her Hogwarts robes as well so she wouldn't have to come back.

The clothes were all made of acromantula silk which was apparently the best material available. It wasn't cheap by any stretch of the imagination but Annie wanted to be taken seriously, which would require both the correct attitude and dress sense. She would come back at a later date for dress robes since they would take longer to make, and left with her new wardrobe. It had cost her 210 Galleon's in total but with the long pale blue dress and the dark blue cloak she now fit right in. Although the slight shine on her clothes marked them as silk, she merely looked like a rich young girl.

Her next stop was a shop on the outskirts of Knockturn Alley, which the goblin had recommended. He had also said that if people thought she was defenceless they were likely to attack her and so advised her to be careful if she went down there alone. Apparently they alley catered to a darker clientele. The shop sold writing supplies of a higher quality and was where most of the wealthier purebloods got there parchment from. She still hadn't worked out what this whole blood thing was about but since it seemed so important, she had resolved to discover what it was at the earliest convenience, she had a feeling the list of things she had to do would take considerably longer than originally anticipated but she would deal with that later. Once she had her writing equipment she made her way toward the owl store. She would need an owl to deliver mail, and she still needed to get supplies. After that though she was going to see the house in London. She had had more than enough stress today, she needed to sit down and take stock of her new discoveries.

The London townhouse, number twelve Grimmauld Place was at first glance, rather dilapidated. The house was located on a muggle street and had a very run down appearance. Annie walked warily to the front door and placed her hand flat in the middle of the door. The wards had been sealed according to the goblin, but because her godfather had legitimised her, the wards should recognise her as a Black. The door tingled under her touch and she said the password, which was apparently the family motto, and not at all original in Annie's opinion. "Toujours Pur."

The door swung open with a loud creak and absolute darkness greeted her. Lighting a ball of fire in her palm, she warily stepped into the house, leaving her owl and her shopping bags by the front door. The floorboards creaked under her feet and the light from the flame showed the rising damp in the walls. The stench was revolting, it was musty, and she could smell the mould from the walls. She also smelt the rank scent of decay and strongly suspected something had died in here.

Treading carefully down the hall the stench got progressively worse until Annie actually covered her nose and mouth. Apparently the house elf hadn't done any cleaning in years because she was leaving a trail of footprints in the dust that lay on the floor. There was a curtain hanging from the wall on her right, and whilst that wasn't odd in itself, she noticed that the curtain was actually clean. She pulled it aside only to jump backwards at the sight that greeted her.

There was a woman, standing in a painting. Annie suspected she had once been a great beauty but the painting hadn't been taken care of and so had yellowed with age, leaving the woman to look rather frightening. The gold plaque underneath the portrait read 'Walburga Black'. So this is my cousin, Annie thought absently. She wondered if the portrait spoke. Most did according to the goblins, though the painting just seemed to be staring at her, or more specifically at the ball of fire she held in her hand. Then the woman opened her mouth and spoke in an imperious tone that screamed arrogance, "Who are you?"

Annie winced both at the tone and the glare the woman was giving her. The phrase if looks could kill came to mind. A loud crack announced the presence of the house elf, and Annie only narrowly refrained from jumping. A creature which she assumed was a house elf stood near the painting watching her with a hateful expression.

"Well," the woman spoke in a demanding tone "identify yourself girl."

Annie narrowed her eyes at the portrait and brought the flame closer to the canvas "Excuse me, madam, but I am to be the new head of the house of Black. This house belongs to me, since Sirius is in prison. You do not have the authority to order me around." The woman seemed to puff up in indignation but Annie promptly turned her back and addressed the elf. "I am the owner of this house now, and you must obey my orders, so you are going to take all the portraits down and place them in a room that is not used. You will then clean this house until it is suitable for human habitation. Start with the library. I need to be in there first. If I am going to restore the house of Black to its former glory then I cannot live in a filthy house. How long will it take you to clean the library?"

The elf blinked at her then spoke in a croaky voice. "Kreacher thinks it will take an hour for Kreacher to clean the library for the new mistress."

"Good, can you clean the house by yourself or do you need another house elf to assist you?''

"Kreacher can do's it by himself mistress."

Annie gave the elf a dubious look, the current state of the house rather gave a contradictory impression, but she decided to give the elf the benefit of the doubt. "Fine, I am going out to eat lunch. I should be back in a couple of hours."

"Wait!" The woman spoke again. "If you are to be the new head of house may I at least know why you are insisting on the portraits being taken down?"

Annie narrowly refrained from rolling her eyes and addressed the painting "Because I don't appreciate being spied on obviously."

As Annie left the house she idly wondered how much it would cost her to give the house the complete overhaul she strongly suspected it needed, and whether the warding world had contractors.

AN:

This chapters not quite as long as I wanted but I wanted to get it out on time. Next chapter should be longer, though we just moved house so I'm not sure if I'll be able to update on time. We don't have WiFi yet so I actually had to do this chapter at college. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

ForeverSiriusBlack.

Words: 4767

Completed: 22/01/2015


	4. Chapter 4

**Danger of Darkness**

**Chapter Four - A Path Is Chosen**

Annie stared at the canopy above her absently going over the last two weeks in her mind. It had been two weeks since she found out she sees a witch and she still wasn't sure how she felt about it. She had been staying in Grimmauld Place and reading up on everything she would need to know, but the more she read the more put off she became.

The biggest thing she had to deal with was the fame. Her family had been attacked by a dark lord, her parents had died and she had survived a curse that no one else ever had. It was a lot to take in, the magical society had hailed her as some kind of saviour and everyone knew the story. The lightning scar was her defining feature to these people, everyone who saw it would know who she was, and that just couldn't be allowed. She needed obscurity, so she had found a way to get rid of it. The painting had been surprisingly helpful with that.

The painting of her cousin, which Kreacher had been unable to get rid of since it was permanently stuck to the wall, had asked to speak to her once she had returned to the house two weeks ago. She had been surprisingly tolerable even if the casual arrogance with which she spoke had irritated her. She had no problem with arrogance in general and knew that she herself was arrogant but what annoyed her was the fact that the woman had nothing to be arrogant about. She had been born with privileges and assumed that because of her name and money the world would bow at her feet. That wasn't who Annie wanted to be. People would respect her because they knew she was better than them, because she had proved time and time again that she was the best. She didn't want things handed to her. Her cousin clearly didn't know the meaning of hard work and that infuriated Annie to no end.

Not willing to turn down a potential advantage however, Annie had listened to the woman and it had been a surprisingly illuminating conversation. Walburga had told her that she was an elemental, a branch of magical practitioners that were thought to be extinct, after the ministry had passed several laws that denounced their powers as dark and their practice illegal. Walburga explained that even the weaker elementals had been known to destroy small towns with their tempers. They represented magic and nature in its purest form, but had notoriously poor control over their emotions, which often made them dangerous and unpredictable. The ministry also had no way of regulating or controlling their powers which had been a major factor in why they had been banned. After telling her this, Walburga had then demanded a promise out of her that no matter what, she wouldn't use her powers in public. If she was caught, she'd be killed on sight, girl who lived or not.

Once Annie had given her word, Walburga had proceeded to lecture her on the finer points of pureblood etiquette, recent wizarding history and estate management. She had moved to a painting in the library and lectured her for hours on everything she would need to take up her position as a head of house. She had then informed her that she needed to learn emotional control so she could control her powers and wouldn't lose control when she lost her temper, something even she knew she had trouble with. This had led to Annie learning the fine art of occlumency. Apparently occlumency helped with emotional control, it was also the counter for legilimency which was the art of reading minds. Walburga had ranted for a good twenty minutes on all the potential disasters that could occur should someone (i.e. Dumbledore) read her mind.

Walburga had become oddly fond of her in the past two weeks and lamented that she had always wanted a daughter. Annie privately thought the woman resembled a Drill Sargent more than she did a mother, but given that she had never had a parent of any kind she probably wasn't in any position to judge.

She had told Annie about her two sons, including her godfather Sirius, and how he had been a constant disappointment with his rebellious nature and habit of embarrassing the family at important events. He had also taken the opposite side politically, to the rest of his family in the last war and opposed his family's efforts at every turn. This had been the last straw for Walburga.

To a Black it was family above all, and Sirius had chosen to side against his family. He and Walburga had had a huge row when Sirius was fifteen which had resulted in Walburga throwing him out. Apparently he had gone to live with Annie's own father, and though it had broken her heart to disown her own child, she had had to protect her family as a whole. Her niece Bellatrix had joined the dark lord and their families political views had matched his, in dangerous times of war the family hadn't wanted to risk getting on the dark lords bad side, so they had distanced themselves from Sirius and her younger son had joined up as a death eater.

Regulus had become a death eater just after her left school but had died in the dark lord's service. Walburga didn't know what had happened as neither side had taken responsibility for his death and the body was never found.

Annie had listened to everything Walburga could tell her about the war and her part in it. Her parents had fought for Dumbledore's resistance movement known as the order of the phoenix. Her parents had met the dark lord in battle three times and lived, before he had attacked her family home. Walburga wasn't sure why they had been targeted exactly, only that Bellatrix had heard rumors of a prophecy and that two families had been targeted. Hers and the Longbottom's, another family in Dumbledore's order. After the disappearance of the dark lord Bella had attacked the family and been caught, she was still in azkaban and Walburga said she suspected she always would be.

They had talked long into the night, with Walburga giving her an in depth view of blood politics. She had given Annie a surprisingly unbiased view, though it had been clear which side she agreed with. She had made it very clear to Annie that she was expected to be the epitome of all things light and that Dumbledore would no doubt keep a very close eye on her from the moment she set foot in Hogwarts. Annie didn't yet have the political backing to directly challenge Dumbledore and would need allies if she truly intended to. Walburga gave her a list of families that hated Dumbledore that she should endear herself to, and of course a great deal of blackmail material that she could use on them should the need arise.

She had also read a lot of books on blood and research into blood purity. Walburga had given her an unbiased view but she had also pointed her in the direction of books that would back up her beliefs. What she had read disgusted her. According to the book each magical child born was born with a core that was predisposed to a certain type of magic. The Blacks for example were born with dark magical cores. This meant that whilst they could practice both light and dark magic, dark spells would always be easier to cast. However muggleborns were born with neutral magic, which they then passed to their children.

Because of this if a muggleborn married into the Black family the children would lose their affinity for dark magic and were also proven to have weaker magic that their parents. Studies suggested that breeding with muggleborns was weakening magic, and increased the chance of children being born without magic, squibs.

However the purebloods in an effort to preserve their magic, had started marrying within their own family's; keeping the lines pure. This had led to sterility and mental instability. The way Annie saw it, magical Britain needed a massive injection of new blood before the magic was lost.

Walburga had told her that marrying foreign wizards was probably the answer and that she was simply one of the lucky ones. The new blood from her mother would hopefully save her from the sterility that most pureblood women faced, whilst being legitimised by her godfather had prevented her from having the weaker, neutral magic her mother would have had.

Annie suspected that blood adoption was the answer to the muggleborn problem. The studies she had read about suggested that muggleborns came from squib lines that had married muggles and moved to the muggle world in order to escape persecution. If the lines that had bred the squibs were willing to take in muggleborn children and have them blood adopted at a very early age then the neutral magic would be replaced by the family magics, and would also introduce new, less stagnant magic into the gene pool. Though wizards didn't seem to have a concept of genetics, Annie suspected from her extensive studies into human biology, that a lack of new DNA in the gene pool had caused the fertility problems that most pureblood women faced.

Her magic was, from what she could tell, quite dark orientated. Of the few spells she had tried, the dark spells felt easier. Her magic had flowed through her body much faster when she cast dark spells, and left her feeling rather heady. She understood why some people were afraid of it, the power rush reminded her of the first time she had used her elemental powers and the feeling of drowning in the power. It would be all to easy to get lost in that power. But she would worry about that later.

Annie would be going back to the bank come morning to take up her position as head of the house of Potter and acting head of the house of Black. She couldn't become the official head until Sirius was dead, but because he was in azkaban she could become acting head in his place. She then had a meeting with a solicitor from Doge and Doge at eleven o'clock.

She had had more information crammed into her head in the last two weeks than she had ever had in her life, and she had very specific plans for this meeting. Her main problem would be getting taken seriously, these solicitors were the best of the best and represented many key politician's such as the Malfoy's and the Nott's, both of whom had been inner circle death eaters during the last war.

Walburga had recommended this firm on the basis that they took no prisoners and had few moral compunction's, in other words they were the perfect people to help her deal with her Dumbledore problem. If they were willing to represent her.

Annie threw off the covers and left her bed, giving up on the idea of any more sleep. She was sleeping in what had once been Regulus's room whilst Kreacher fixed up the house. Once he had cleaned the house properly she would see about redecorating. The place was too creepy for her tastes.

She walked to the wardrobe that now contained all her clothes and pulled out a deep blue dress. It fell to her knees and hugged her body in all the right places, making her look feminine and sophisticated. It was of a far nicer material than anything she had worn before but was also more conservative than muggle clothes tended to be. The sleeves fell to midway between her elbows and her wrists; the neckline was round and just below the hollow of her throat. There was a pattern of deep green flowers around the hem and overall Annie thought she looked rather nice.

She then began gently brushing her hair. Her hair was jet black, and fell in soft curls to her waist that acquired a blood red sheen in the sun. She pulled the top half up and secured it in a heavy silver, snake shaped clip from the jewellery box Walburga had had Kreacher give her. It was made of goblin wrought silver and encrusted with emeralds and diamonds. She then fixed a silver locket around her neck that was imbued with the black family crest, and some diamond stud earrings in each ear. A silver bracelet depicting a snake hung on her right wrist, completing the outfit. According to Walburga it was important to portray the wealth and status of her family, when in public. She didn't have any Potter jewellery yet but she knew there was some in the main family vault.

Absently she admired her reflection. She had always known she was beautiful, but looking in the mirror now she couldn't help but feel a wave of satisfaction. Her dark green eyes were rimmed with long thick eyelashes, her high cheekbones and small nose gave her an aristocratic look. With pouty lips and a light blush on her cheeks she really was the image of a classic beauty. The only thing that marred it was the small lightning bolt shaped scar on her forehead but Walburga had taught her a blood based glamour charm that would allow her to hide it.

The glamour was powerful enough that no one would be able to see it and couldn't be removed by anyone but her. It would also last until she removed it and didn't rely on a constant stream of magic like a normal glamour did. It did require a small amount of blood to be smeared on her forehead which is why the ministry had labeled it dark magic, but was far more useful than a normal glamour which faded a few hours after it was first applied. As she clipped her bangs to the top of her head she relished in the fact that her face was now blemish free. She supposed it was rather vain but she couldn't say she particularly cared.

She walked into the kitchen to see Kreacher making her breakfast. The elf had somewhat grown on her since she had first moved in. He had even gone to privet drive and brought all her stuff in an attempt to make her happy. He seemed pleased to have someone to look after and had taken very good care of her since she had moved in. His ears perked up at her arrival and he turned to face her. He was old, his face wrinkled and shrunken with small amounts of white hair growing from his ears. He had been dressed in only a loin cloth when she had first come here but she had given him a soft white tea towel with the black family crest to wear instead. It make the elf look much better in her opinion, and everything in her house would reflect on her so she couldn't have a filthy house elf making her look bad. It had made the house elf less surly too so that was definitely a plus.

"Will mistress Annie be wanting breakfast?" The elf asked, looking hopefully in her direction.

"I'll have cereal please Kreacher, have you seen Kiara?" Kiara was the name she had given to the boa constrictor she had liberated from London zoo. Kreacher had brought her from the Dursleys house last week.

"Mistresses snake is in the drawing room." He replied, his face looking rather pale. Annie suspected it was because she had tried to eat him when he had brought her here.

"I'll eat in there then," she said as she walked out of the room.

The drawing room was a decently sized room with two large sofas and several armchairs surrounding a small coffee table. It had walls of a deep green with white cornicing and the chairs were all black, with the coffee table in a dark mahogany. The only natural light came from one window that was so covered in dust you could no longer see out of it. There was also a large fireplace on the back wall that Kiara was currently lazing in front of. There was a book on the table from where she had been reading the night before. It was a book on etiquette that Walburga had made her read. The material was quite dull so it wasn't something she enjoyed, but it covered all the do's and don'ts of high society. It was also nearly two hundred pages long. She had read it through once but had decided to refresh her memory before the meeting.

She ate her breakfast slowly, watching Kiara as she devoured a live rabbit, and thought over her plan for today. She would go to Gringotts to take up her place as head of house. She then had to convince the solicitor, a man by the name of Elliot Doge to help her take on Albus Dumbledore of all people. She knew the man was not fond of Dumbledore but he wouldn't be particularly fond of her either, after all everyone assumed she was on Dumbledore's side. She would have to convince him that she wasn't.

At this point she was something of an unknown. Walburga was sure that the dark lord would return and when he did the war would start back up again. There would be three sides of the war, his, Dumbledore's, and the ministry's. But the problem was that Annie wasn't sure she agreed with any of them. The dark lord would want to kill her because she had supposedly defeated him, Dumbledore would use and manipulate her into a weapon against a man she had no wish to fight, and the ministry would kill her for the very magic she wielded. How could she support any of these people? These people who would think of her as nothing more than a tool, an inferior being to be wiped off the face of the world?

No, for now she would watch and she would wait, but in the end she felt as though the outcome was inevitable, it was not in her to bow, to kneel at the feet of another, so in the end there was only one thing she could do. And oh what chaos that would bring.

Standing at the doors of Gringotts, Annie took a deep breath. Taking up her position as a head of house would undoubtedly change everything. She knew from her cousin that taking up her responsibilities would make mean a hell of a lot more than just putting on a pretty ring.

It would automatically activate her seats in the Wizengamot -which was basically the wizards version of a house of lords, though much smaller since there were only fifty seats - it would make her responsible for the health and happiness of every member of her house, and would also make her responsible for the actions of every member of her house. If they did something that reflected badly on the house, it reflected badly on her.

There weren't that many living members of the house anyway, so Annie hoped she could avoid those particular instances from happening, no doubt it would be a paperwork nightmare. Clearing her mind and focusing on her occlumency training, she wiped her face of all emotion and stepped into the bank.

She drew some attention, her clothes and her looks being rather striking, but no one seemed to recognise her. She allowed a small smile to grace her lips as she walked toward the line behind one of the occupied tellers - Walburga had said she didn't really resemble her parents, her eyes were the same colour as her mother's, until she used magic, which made them turn a sickly poisonous green, and her hair was the same black as her fathers, but otherwise Walburga had said she looked rather like her grandmother Dorea, who had been a Black. She had theorised that being legitimised by Sirius and already having Black blood had brought forward many of the dominant Black traits.

A blonde boy in the opposite line was staring at her, looking rather bored, as who she could only assume were his parents conversed with the teller. His clothes were of the same material as hers and so were the couples in front him. There posture screaming wealth and arrogance. She also spotted a head of house ring on the man's right hand. She remembered her aunts lectures on etiquette and put on her polite little girl facade. Smiling at the boy politely she held out her hand. "Hello, I'm Annie."

He took her hand gently brushing his lips along her knuckles. "Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. Are you by yourself?" His tone was imperious and arrogant like Walburga's and she refrained from rolling her eyes.

"Yes, my parents are dead. Are they yours?" She asked, tilting her head in the direction of the couple in front of him.

He nodded. "Father has business with the goblin's, then we're going for my school things. Do you attend Hogwarts?"

Annie shook her head. "Not yet, I'll be a first year in September."

"Me too. What house do you hope to be in? I'm hoping for Slytherin, my whole family have been Slytherin for generations."

"I believe my parents were Gryffindor but I'm hoping to be a Slytherin myself. I prefer cunning over senseless bravery."

Draco snorted. "My father says Gryffindor is the breeding ground of fools and idiocy."

She raised an eyebrow. "And what do you think?"

Draco furrowed his brow as though confused. "I agree with my father. He is a brilliant man, his opinion's are very important to a lot of very important people."

"I'm sure they are, but it isn't your father I want to be friends with. I want to be friends with you, and if I'm going to be friends with you then I need to know things about you, your opinions and such, so that I can see if we have anything in common with you. That's how friendship works."

"Very true." Said a voice from behind her. She turned to meet cool blue eyes observing her. The man was around six foot tall with long blond hair. His gaze was cold and assessing. His wife was standing by his side, though her gaze was not so cold as her husband's, in fact she was smiling at Annie and her eyes held approval. She was only a few inches shorter than her husband and also blond, though her hair was slightly darker than her husband's and her eyes were grey. She also had the same high cheekbones and small nose as Annie herself. Her gaze was drawn to the locket resting at the base of Annie's throat and she froze, shock crossing her features. She turned to her son.

"Draco, I don't believe you've introduced us to your new friend."

Annie quickly interrupted before Draco could say anything. These people were political adversaries of Dumbledore, it was crucial she made a positive first impression. "I do apologise Lady Malfoy, for forgetting to introduce myself. I am Anastasia Lilith Dorea Elizabeth Potter, its a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She held her hand out for Narcissa to shake and watched as shock flashed across her eyes which quickly travelled to Annie's forehead, before she schooled her expression into a polite smile and reached out to shake Annie's hand.

"Narcissa Malfoy, Miss Potter and the pleasure is all mine. I was not aware you were a Black." The question in her tone was clear, but Annie noticed that the teller was free. She also noticed her husband's gaze had become far more scrutinising and his gaze had also travelled to her forehead.

"I'm afraid I have an appointment right now, to take up my duties as the head of the house of Potter and the acting head of the house of Black. Could we perhaps discuss this further later?" The shock took longer for Narcissa to mask this time and even Lucius's eyes held surprise. Annie inwardly smirked. Walburga had told her a lot about the Malfoy's, they were also at the top of her people to impress list.

"Of course, perhaps you would consent to having dinner with us, we could discuss it further then?"

"I would be delighted Mrs Malfoy."

Narcissa pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to her. "This is a portkey that will bring you straight to Malfoy manor. Just say Malfoy whilst holding it in your hand and it will deliver you straight to us. Is six o'clock acceptable?"

Annie nodded and smiled politely pocketing the handkerchief. "Of course Mrs Malfoy, I shall see you at six. I do hope you have a pleasant afternoon."

"Likewise Miss Potter." Narcissa smiled back, before Annie turned around and drew herself to her full height and speaking in her most imperious tone, "I wish to speak with the Potter and Black account managers. I have an appointment for half past nine." The goblin, which had been looking quite irritated at being made to wait paled as he realised who she was, and she allowed a truly vindictive smirk to cross her lips. Evidently the bank manager had spread the information of just how dangerous she was. When the goblin failed to speak and only succeeded in opening and closing his mouth several times, she continued in a soft voice that promised pain, "I don't appreciate being kept waiting." The goblin paled some more but jumped from the stool and began leading the way toward the office. She rolled her eyes and followed. The last thing she saw before rounding the corner was the shocked and speculative gaze of Lucius Malfoy.

The office she was led to was the same one she had seen on her previous visit, and once seated she got straight down to business.

"I have come to take up my responsibilities as a head of house. I would also like to further discuss the matter of my parents will."

"Of course, Miss Potter," he paused and placed a small ritual bowl on the table. "If you could drop three drops into the bowl your family rings will appear. You will then have to place both of them on the left ring finger, the rings will then assess your magic to determine your suitability as head of house."

Annie took the small dagger from the bowl and made a cut along the tip of her finger. She watched as three drops of blood dripped from her finger and the bowl glowed slightly before the blood disappeared to be replaced by two small rings.

The first was a heavy silver ring with the Potter crest burnished into the front. She placed it on her ring finger and felt a tingling sensation run up her arm and through her chest like it was searching for something before returning to the ring which shrunk down to fit her finger.

She repeated the process with the other ring, which was jet black with the black family crest burnished into it in silver. The tingling sensation however was replaced by a burning pain and had Annie biting down on her tongue to keep from screaming. For a moment she feared it had rejected her before it too shrunk down to fit her finger.

Annie slumped in her seat, panting heavily as she waited for the echoes of pain to subside. She couldn't help but grin in triumph as she caught sight of the rings on her left hand. Walburga had warned her that there had never been a female heiress and that there was a high probability of the ring rejecting her, but she had done it. She would have to add the surname Black to her already obscenely long name but it was worth it. From here on out, she would be in control. Taking up the position as head of house had automatically emancipated her, so no one would ever be able to control her again.

After regaining her breath, she looked up at the goblin. "The last time I was here you said I couldn't know about the wills until I had accepted my position as head of house, I've done that now so I want to read them."

The goblin looked nervous now and Annie just knew she wasn't going to like whatever was about to come out of its mouth. She was proven right moments later. "Unfortunately Miss Potter the will was sealed by the chief warlock upon the time of their deaths. You would need a Wizengamot ruling to have them unsealed."

Annie took a deep breath in through her mouth, desperately trying to rein in her temper. She mentally added Albus Dumbledore to the list of people she would one day kill slowly and painfully. Using the occlumency techniques she had learned she pushed away her rage and focused. This wasn't the place to lose her temper. In a tightly controlled tone of voice she said, "Then I suppose its a good thing that there's a Wizengamot session next week then isn't it?"

She left the bank in a foul mood, deciding to do some retail therapy in order to improve her mood. She still had to purchase some of her school shopping anyway.

She headed for the trunk shop first, so she would have something to carry her purchase's in. The shop was larger than it looked like from the outside, a space expansion charm, she thought absently. It was a large room with various trunks on display, the front of the store was filled with standard trunks, the types she imagined that most people bought for school.

She examined them casually before dismissing them. They didn't have enough space for all her books. She spotted a sign for expanded trunks near the back of the shop and headed in that direction. The trunks held extra compartments with space expansion charms, though the one that caught her eye was the library trunk. It came with two compartments, the first was an expanded wardrobe which would hold her not inconsiderable supply of clothes and the second compartment held a library. There were steps which led down to a large room that held floor to ceiling bookshelves against the four walls with a small armchair, sofa and coffee table in the middle of the room.

She briefly spoke to the clerk who told her the trunk was password protected with anti thievery charms, and also had feather light and shrinking charms on for customer convenience. The trunk was jet black with silver clasps and she had the Potter crest put on the front with her initials, A.L.D.E.P.B. slightly below the crest. There was also a small rune in the corner which the clerk had explained would shrink the trunk down until it fit in the palm of her hand. She inwardly cringed at the sight of her initials. She had had to add Black to her name since the had taken headship and now her name was even longer. She had hated her name since she was three years old and had had to learn how to spell it. It had taken days before she could write the entire thing out, not to mention how long it took to sign anything. She wondered if her parents had gone round the twist when they decided to give her such an obscenely long name.

She then asked the clerk if there was anyway to add a concealed space to the trunk. The man had given her an appeasing eye before stating that he could add a small secret room behind one of the bookshelves with a myriad of secrecy and security charms that prevent anyone from even detecting it, never mind entering it. He could also add password protections and conceal the entrance. It cost her a further 200 galleons on top of the trunks original price but she deemed it a worthy expense.

She payed the 500 galleons and then viewed some school bags, before deciding on a black dragonhide shoulder bag with silver buckles. It was also charmed feather light and carried anti thievery charms. It cost ten galleons and for an extra five she got the Potter and Black crests sown on in dark green thread in the right corner.

The clerk told her it would take a further two hours to make the changes, so she agreed to send Kreacher to pick it up.

She hit the bookstore next, purchasing only the required course texts. She had more than enough reading material already. She did pick up a catalogue though, figuring that she could always look through the owl order section later. She called for Kreacher and had him take the bags back to Grimmauld Place before heading for the wand shop.

The place turned out to be far less exciting than she had anticipated. It was a small dark shop with rows and rows of shelves against the wall that held thousands of boxes. She guessed those must be the wands. The one she was currently using was walnut, eleven inches with a core of dragon heartstring. It was actually a spare wand she had found in a draw in the study. Apparently it had belonged to Walburga's husband Orion. It worked but wasn't suited to her particularly well so she had to literally force her magic through the thing.

According to Walburga it was because the wand hadn't chosen her and she needed to get one that did. She had recommended getting an official wand from Ollivander and then an unofficial wand from a man named Cyrus who had a shop in knockturn alley. Official wands were tracked by the ministry so she wouldn't be able to use magic outside school without setting off the trace. That would be a problem, especially since they would be able to tell which spell she had used. She wanted to try out some of the spells in the Black library but most of them were illegal. Not that she cared but it was never wise to rub blatant law breaking in peoples faces. Normal people frowned on that sort of thing after all.

She sensed the magic before she heard him so managed to avoid jumping when a mans voice broke the silence of the shop. "Good morning."

Annie turned slowly on the spot before looking the man directly in the eye and raising an eyebrow. She was gratified by seeing the man's eyes widen slightly and flicker to her forehead. The frown on his forehead indicating his confusion at the blemish free skin he could see. "I'm here to buy a wand sir, I presume that's not going to be a problem?"

The man pulled himself together, "Ah, Miss Potter I presume. Yes it feels like just yesterday your parents were in here buying their first wands. Your mother..."

"I don't care." Annie said, because honestly, she didn't, and she didn't want to listen too the man talk about dead people, that she didn't know and didn't want to be guilted into missing either. "I'm here to buy a wand, can you help me or not?"

The man looked rather shocked by her abrupt dismissal but she simply raised an eyebrow and watched the man as he walked toward the counter. "Of course Miss Potter, which is your wand arm?" She raised her right arm with an expression of utter boredom on her face. At that point a tape measure began measuring her arm as the man, she assumed was Ollivander, began pulling out boxes.

He instructed her to pick up the wand but upon performing a basic flick of her wrist, a vase on the table shattered. He snatched the wand from her grip and handed her another, this time a shelf exploded. The process repeated many times before Ollivander handed her a wand that had a most curious reaction to her. "Holly and phoenix feather, eleven and a half inches." She took the wand with annoyance, irritated beyond belief at how long this was taking and knowing her solicitors appointment was in half an hour, however as she waved the wand as she had done countless times before, white sparks shot out of the tip and a curiously cold feeling traveled up her right arm.

Ollivander looked rather surprised, and took the wand from her hand. "A partial match, the core has chosen you but the wood has not. Follow me, I shall have to remove the core and put it in another type of wood."

She followed him warily into a back room filled with more shelves. On the shelves however were not wands but various different types of wood and what she assumed were wand cores.

"Place your hand over each wood in turn until you feel the one that's right for you." He said, pointing toward the shelf contains all the wood. It was more often than not shaped like twigs and Annie couldn't see how she was going to feel anything from each wood but she gave it a go.

The first several woods made her hand feel cold as the original wand had but the last wood she came to was different. A warm tingling feeling travelled across her fingertips and she knew this one was the right one. Her magic sung in her veins and begin to pop and crack around her, overjoyed at the feeling that originated from the wand. She had wondered what the point of the wand was when her elemental powers made her more adept at wandless magic, but this feeling made it entirely worth it. Her magic was exited. The wind in the room had picked up and her power literally poured off her in waves.

The wand maker stared at her in ill disguised awe and terror as the strip of wood soared into her hand. She examined it carefully, yew, she thought it was, meant to symbolise immortality and rebirth. She handed it to him, coming back to herself enough to pull in the wild magic suffusing the air.

Ollivander took a deep shuddering breath, eyeing the wood with trepidation. He pulled himself together quickly enough though and spoke. "I shall have to make you a new wand with this wood, would you go back into the main room whilst I do so?"

"Of course sir, will it take long, only I have a previous engagement?"

"Not at all Miss Potter, I shall be very quick."

She nodded and walked back into the main room. There was a girl waiting there with bushy brown hair and large front teeth which gave her an unfortunate resemblance to a beaver. Her parents stood behind her, there muggle clothes made her think the girl must be a muggleborn. "Hello, I'm Hermione Granger. Isn't this exciting, I had no idea I was a witch until just last week. I'm buying a wand, are you here to buy one too?"

She raised an eyebrow. "No of course not, I'm here to buy a trunk, why else would I be in a wand shop?" She drawled sarcastically. Honestly, she hated stupid people, they were so exhausting.

The girl flushed. "There's no need to be rude you know." Her tone was snotty and self-righteous. Annie merely sneered in response.

"There's no need to be stupid either. But what else can you expect from someone with dirty blood, and no proper breeding."

The girl looked like she was about to cry and Annie smirked but before anyone could say anything else the wand maker called her name and she returned to the back room.

"Your wand, Miss Potter. Yew and phoenix feather, eleven inches. Though I must say it is curious that you be destined for this wand when its twin gave you that scar."

Annie started slightly. "You mean the dark lords wand was the same as mine?"

"Yes, yew and phoenix feather thirteen inches. I think we can expect great things from you Miss Potter, after all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things. Terrible yes, but great."

Annie nodded her head and left the store in a contemplative silence. She would have to research that further later. But right now she had an appointment with a solicitor. Stage one to take down Dumbledore. She could hardly wait.

AN:

Sorry its a bit late, I haven't had much opportunity to write. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and my sincere thanks to everyone who reviewed. Next chapter should be up on time. Feel free to drop me a review telling me what you think of Annie, I appreciate all the reviews and constructive criticism.

ForeverSiriusBlack

Completed: 07/02/2015

Words: 6853


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